South Beach's infamous Nikki Beach transformed its beachfront venue into "Destination Nikki Beach" for the official New Year's Eve ball-dropping extravaganza, complete with a Mile High Club V.I.P. area with aerialists and a burlesque dancer in a giant martini glass. The year-end celebration represented Nikki Beach locations from around the world with a variety of entertaining performers from Zhantra Entertainment.
"Nikki Beach is such a beautiful place," said Larry Alspaugh, owner of Sterling Productions, which designed lighting for the event. "I wanted to accent the venue without making it look too industrial, and it translated very nicely."
Alspaugh used water lights in the venue's signature beach-bed area, LED lights throughout the restaurant garden, and special star gobos for the front of the space. Outside, the white-slipcovered beds were accented with blue light from above and orange from beneath, while orange pillows added to the splashes of color.
Exotic fire dancers, flamenco stilt walkers, Thai and French-style dancers, and human disco balls circulated throughout the space. Hostesses in retro-inspired aviator uniforms collected eventgoers' boarding pass-style entry tickets and served champagne for South Beach's official Times Square-style ball drop, complete with a 2009 light-up sign and fireworks display.
Nikki Beach's house DJs spun house music, keeping the New Year's energy up throughout the evening.